“And, in a way, I have nothing left to lose anymore.” You’ve been talking about Megalopolis since the late 1970s. At what point did you seriously start to think of this as a real project?

Absolutely not but has nothing left to lose by not telling the truth. But all of us have something to lose by not hearing the truth, and it will affect everything we believe in as Americans.

Who by fire and who by “nothing left to lose.” When I’m done in this world, I’ll be good and done. But I intend to ensure that I keep asking these questions until then, ...

“I have everything to lose here,” he says, referring to this portrait of the decline, fall, and Phoenix-like rise of a civilization. “And, in a way, I have nothing left to lose anymore. ...